Chaise lounges for indoor use are generally substantial rigid articles of furniture placed in leisure and boudoir areas. They are intended to be stable furniture with a horizontal couch-like seat and a raised back support adjacent to part of the seat. Such lounges generally do not provide for adjustment of the angle of the backrest relative to the seat, neither are they intended to be rockable nor stackable.
Chaise lounges for outdoor, poolside, or cabana usage are generally of lightweight construction, often with wheels, and usually with an adjustable back support. These also are generally quite stable once the backrest has been adjusted.
Indoor chaises are generally not used in multiples in any area, and are not stored. Instead they are established articles of furniture decorated as to taste and dedicated to function. The same is not the situation for outdoor chaise lounges. Outdoor chaise lounges are most usually found around pools and terraces in substantial numbers, and are regularly moved from place to place as social events transpire, or at the end of the day. During some events or at the end of the day they are stored or otherwise grouped. Although they are light of weight, they are bulky items, so their storage can be, and often is, a problem.
Because of where they are used, outdoor chaise lounges are not generally provided with a rocking feature. Among problems that accompany the attributes of rockability are insufficient stability when sat upon as contrasted with being reclined upon, and insufficient stackability of numbers of them.
Chaise lounges for outdoor usage must be made lightweight, both for convenience and for economy of construction. This raises problems for providing an attractive product. Unattractive products sell poorly. Tubular elements are generally preferred for these products, for example aluminum alloy tubing. While such elements make for strong structures, lightness of weight, and lower cost, chaise lounges made from them, especially for an upper scale product, suffer aesthetically from limitations asserted by conventional assembly processes and the strength of the structural elements.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a lounge with structural elements and assembly that are economical, and when assembled are attractive. The lateral spacing between the rockers is greater than the lateral spacing between the rails. As a consequence the lounges can be stacked, because the rockers of an upper lounge can pass over the rails of a lower lounge.
It is another object of this invention to provide such an article of furniture which utilizes forces that are resistant to the linear extension of the furniture for supporting the weight of the occupant.